REVIEW | Gwyneth Goes Skiing, Pleasance London

Written by Cathie

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

General warnings: audience participation, strong and goopy language, flashing lights, adult humour and swearing 

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Tucked into the Pleasance Theatre lies the world of Deer Valley resort. This glamourous setting is the location for an extremely tongue in cheek satire produced by Awkward Productions about Gwyneth Paltrow and that time she lost ‘half a day of skiing’. Peppered with very clever pop culture references and jokes, this production had the audience howling with laughter throughout with its extreme silliness. 

The plot revolves around the famous incident in Deer Valley where Gwyneth Paltrow and Terry Sanderson collided on the ski slopes in Utah. It’s explained through many hilarious breaks of the fourth wall and uses many jokes, extremely clever witticisms and quite surreal puppetry to show the antecedents leading up to the collision and eventual court case. The show uses actual lines from the court case as well to further exemplify the strangeness of the events of the plot in a nuanced way. 

Audience participation in this show was facilitated in one of the best ways I’ve ever seen. It ranged from audience members playing members of the cast, creating goop product suggestions and participating in other ways to enhance and humorously impact the storyline. The option at the end of the play for the audience to vote as a member of the jury and the resulting multiple endings which arise from this makes me want to see this show again and again to catch every version. One of the most hilarious moments of this show was when everyone could throw snowballs at Sanderson while he was ‘skiing’ to create the blizzards on the slopes that day. 

The cast of this show are truly a dynamic duo and bring much charisma to their roles. Linus Karp as Gwyneth Paltrow was a marvellous nuanced study of Paltrow, from her breathy voice to general posture and mannerisms, he truly captured every essence of Paltrow and her ‘goopieness’. Joseph Martin as Terry Sanderson was a high energy powerhouse of a performer. His gestures and mannerisms were fabulous at making the satire even more pronounced and adding greater weight to the many jokes throughout. Along with the role of Paltrow’s daughter being played by a literal apple, which every time was brought on had me in fits of laughter, there was also a hilarious filmed cameo by Trixie Mattel as Paltrow’s mother. The other characters of the show were performed by random members of the audience that night who, reading their lines by autocue, added their own improvised spark into the show and were supported by Martin and Karp fabulously. 

Read more: Interview with Linus Karp, Awkward Productions

This was a truly wonderful show filled with wit, laughter and genuinely made my day. Its extremely camp witticisms and sly references will brighten your February more than any ‘jade eggs’ and has more hilarious warmth than obtained by questionable smelling candles. If you enjoy razor sharp satire, charismatic actors and a rollicking good night out then this is definitely the show for you. 

Running until 16th February 2024. 

The production also is partnered with Cabaret vs Cancer and any donations made during the course of this show’s run will be doubled by an anonymous benefactor.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆